


something in a shade of gray or something in between

by anxietywrites



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Goes Through It, Infidelity Not From Bucky Though, M/M, More characters to be added later, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Slow Burn, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, but he'll be there, for a while, like very slow, steve doesnt come in until later, veeeeeeeery slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:47:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28061925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxietywrites/pseuds/anxietywrites
Summary: Bucky works at a grocery store for the summer. He didn't expect to make any friends, much less a potential boyfriend.What could go wrong?
Relationships: Brock Rumlow/OMC, Eventually - Relationship, James "Bucky" Barnes/Brock Rumlow, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 1





	something in a shade of gray or something in between

**Author's Note:**

> so this may or may not be the author getting all their feelings out and projecting onto fictional characters. if it wasn't interesting, i wouldn't have posted it. but the amount of real life plot twists makes me think it might be fictional. we'll get there, eventually. 
> 
> enjoy :)

It’s a stupid thing, really. He would have liked to see him, and for a moment, relive everything that happened, and look back on it with fondness, or maybe even laughter, because of how crazy it was. Instead, he got the exact opposite. He saw him, with his new (old?) boyfriend, and his heart hit the ground. He should have known they were still together. For a second, he had really hoped. Really had held out hope.

He supposed seeing Brock after all this time was some form of closure. After all, their situation was complicated at best and a disaster at worst, but that didn’t give Bucky any better feelings, even a year later.

He remembered wondering when he’d actually manage to find a good guy. Someone who knew what they were worth. Someone who knew that when your significant other is cheating on you, that they won’t stop, no matter how long you wait.

He also remembered wondering when he became the side person in that whole scenario. He supposed it happened from the start.

He, along with others, questioned why he didn’t care until it was almost too late.

He supposed it was a good thing he got out of there when he did. Because then he wouldn’t have met Steve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It all started when Bucky got a job at a grocery store the summer after his junior year of college. He needed something to do to pass the time, and staying at home watching Netflix was getting surprisingly boring.

He didn’t go in with the goal of making friends and having a raging summer fling with a guy who ultimately would fall in love with him. On his first day, he trained with the other new hire named Sam Wilson, and he thought he’d at least have a friend in him.

The older woman named May who actually trained him when he was able to go onto the floor was an entirely different story. She told him many stories about her nephew, Peter, who worked in the pharmacy there. She told him who to avoid, who the good people were, and she trained him on everything she got asked to do for the first week. By the end of that week, Bucky felt like he had met a solid group of people. He liked his managers, he liked his co-workers, but he knew he hadn’t met everyone yet.

He had about an hour left on his shift when he got asked to pull a new pallet of toys out to the toy section of the store. When he went to the back to get them, he ran into his manager and a new guy who he hadn’t seen before.

“Hey Bucky, have you met Brock yet?” T’Challa, his manager asked him.

Bucky took one look at the guy, and realized he was fucked if he ever had to work with him. _Shit, he’s really cute. I need to stay away or else I’m gonna fuck this up somehow,_ he thought.

“Hey, I’m Brock. T’Challa said you’re new here?” Brock said, and _shit, even his voice was nice._

“Y-yeah, I’m new, started this week.” Bucky said, heart rate picking up already. He really wanted to just go get the pallet of toys and pretend this never happened. His breathing was getting shallow, he had an hour left in his shift and just wanted to go home.

T’Challa and Brock talked some more, and Bucky reacted as he should have. But when they left, he beelined to the pallet and hauled it out to the toys section like it was his job. Because it was.

He was working pretty steady, focused and trying his best to help customers find things he’d never heard of (seriously, how many times would people want laser pointers not meant for cats?!). He was working pretty steady until he heard a voice behind him.

“So why’d you choose Lee’s?” _Alright, so he’s doing this._

Bucky gathered himself so he wouldn’t look totally spooked, turned around, and said “they were hiring?”

Brock laughed a little bit, and said “First job?”

Bucky blinked a few times, was he that easy to read? “Yeah, it is. How long have you been here?”

“About two years now, I think. So do you work mornings or nights? Or both?”

“I’ve worked mornings this week, but I guess that could change? Maybe? I’m not sure. Probably just mornings.” This conversation needed to end, and fast. Bucky could only see it ending poorly if he continued it.

“Alright, well I just wanted to say hi once T’Challa wasn’t around. I know that probably caught you a little bit off guard. If you work nights, I work then so we’d be working together!” Brock explained.

Bucky let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. So this wasn’t a creepy co-worker kind of situation, just another guy his age looking for a friend. It wasn’t untrue that at Lee’s everyone working was either a college student or on their way to retirement.

“I’m sure I will at some point, and if not I’ll probably see you around anyways.” He said, hoping Brock would get the hint.

He did, and left with a “see you around!” And Bucky could breathe again.

He finished his pallet of toys, and clocked out for his last break with 15 minutes left in his shift (a trick May taught him), texting his best friend Natasha as he did.

**Bucky:** _really cute guy at lee’s, send help._

**Natasha:** _Customer?_

**Bucky:** _worse. coworker, just met him…gonna try to stay away, you know how this ends for me._

**Natasha:** _Yes, because avoidance is always good. No, James. You’re gonna talk to him every chance you get and we both know it. Make a friend, if anything._

Bucky only rolled his eyes a little bit. Leave it to Natasha to call him out like that. He supposed it made sense, after knowing her for most of his life, she’d know all his tells.

He wasn’t gonna catch feelings. He _wasn’t._ He knew better than to let that happen. Besides, he just had to go back to school in Indiana in three months. Plus, he was barely gonna see the guy. So really, as long as they were friends, nothing could go wrong.

**Bucky:** _haha, very funny. for all i know, he’s an ax murderer or something._

**Natasha:** _He’s not._

**Bucky:** _how do you know that??_

**Natasha:** _I have my ways._

Bucky was torn between believing her and being skeptic. He had his suspicions that Nat was a spy, but at least she was on his side in a fight. But if Nat said he wasn’t an ax murderer, at least that was something. He made his way from the break room in the back to the parking lot without any troubles, and as he made his way home, he felt his shoulders drop from up by his ears (a nervous habit of his). Only three months to go, what could go wrong?


End file.
